[HanCinema's Film Review] "Manchurian Tiger" + Full Movie

During the 70s, South Korea got its own martial arts group, with director Lee Doo-yong, lead actor Han Yong-cheol, aka Charlie Shell and, action choreographer Kwan Yung-moon, with the three of them coming up with 6 movies, including "Returned Single-legged Man". "Manchurian Tiger", which is also part of the 'Manchuria Western' subgenre, films that imitated Hollywood westerns, is another sample of their collaboration that definitely deserves the title cult.

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In a scenario that is essentially a rip off from "A Fistful of Dollars ("Yojimbo" if you prefer), the main protagonist is an unnamed drifter who arrives in Harbin, trying to play the two opposing crime bosses there against each other, by offering his taekwondo skills to the highest bidder. The first one who approaches him is a Chinese restaurant owner, Wang, who asks him to retrieve 100 golden bars that were stolen from his opponent, Japanese bar owner Sasaki. Eventually, a girl Gi-hwa, also becomes part of the story, when she reveals her tragic story to the eventually named Taekwondo Man, as much as that the two bosses used to be collaborators who stole the gold that was intended to be used for Korea's independence, from her father. The girl asks him for revenge, also mentioning the fate of her older brother, Gi-ran who becomes part of the story after a point. The mysterious man himself, however, also seems to harbor his fair share of secrets.

Unfolding like a Golden Harvest production (definitely more than a Shaw Bros one), Lee Doo-yong comes up with a movie where the aforementioned, seemingly intricate script, is essentially present only to provide a base for the action, which consists of the mystery man fighting different kinds of enemies. The  propagandistic comments regarding the evil Chinese and Japanese and the heroic Koreans and the melodramatic notions are not missing from another Korean movie of the era, but again, the focus is on action rather than context.

In that regard, the combination of Han Yong-cheol's abilities and Gwon Yeong-mun's choreography result in a series of scenes that are impressive as they are cult in their lack of believability. That the main character moves around as some kind of Zorro, wearing a black cape and fitting clothes, definitely moves under the second factor, as much as the appearance of his key enemies, which include scores of lackeys, a similarly dressed man, and two fighters that can only be perceived as a sumo wrestler and Russian brawler. The fights comes in torrenting fashion, resulting in sequences that are both exciting and unpurposefully hilarious (at least when watched nowadays) with the cheap SFX, mostly including the jumping of characters to illogical heights and Hyeon Dong-chun's editing, who tries to give speed to a number of characters that are not particularly quick, moving in the same path.

Han Yong-cheol definitely has charisma, and the truth is that he looks cool in an uncanny way, and is even better when he uses his kicks, even if this aspect is implemented somewhat excessively throughout the movie. The fact that he gets his share of punishment almost in every fight, and even more so in the end, also works well for the action element, which finds its apogee in the last sequences of the movie. After a rather laughable fight with a man wearing full body tights, the story sees the two main villains fighting each other, before the winner faces the mystery man, while the appearance of Gi-rang adds another, even stronger opponent in the equation. The aforementioned jumps meet their zenith in this fight, since every leap has them in completely different locations, from the grassy fields to snowed mountains and back, in probably the most hilarious aspect of the whole movie. On the other hand, the brutality present works quite well, since the film also moves into the exploitation territory, particularly closer to the end.

Considering its age and its low budget premise, "Manchurian Tiger" is definitely one of those 'so bad it's good' films that usually are included in the cult category. For fans of the 70s martial arts movies, though, this is a true gem, a title that offers entertainment aplenty, even if unwillingly on occasion.

Review by Panos Kotzathanasis

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"Manchurian Tiger" is directed by Lee Doo-yong, and features Han Yong-cheol, Woo Yeon-jeong, Kim Mun-ju, Bae Su-chun, Kim Hong-ji, Han Tae-il. Release date in Korea: 1974/03/15.